H.S. Baseball: McCabe finishes off 12-inning duel in Dartmouth

DARTMOUTH — Colin McCabe likes to get ready for game day by watching archived Major League games during his open fourth block.

On Thursday, he happened to select Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series, a game most famous for Dave Roberts’ ninth-inning steal, but one that you likely remember for finishing on David Ortiz’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th.

So when McCabe found himself at the plate with one out and a runner on first in the bottom of the 12th just a few hours later, it seemed to be destiny.

“That inspired me,” McCabe said. “That’s all I was thinking: ‘It would be dope if I could do that.’”

With Hunter Pimental leading off first and neither team having managed a run in eight innings, McCabe got ahold of a first-pitch fastball from Logan Debrosse and blasted it to center field. But even off the bat, it wasn’t a sure game-winner. Several squared-up balls had been held up by the wind or died in Dartmouth’s expansive outfield. As McCabe ran toward first, he started screaming: “Get over his head!”

The ball ended up carrying just over the outstretched glove of centerfielder Steven Torres, Pimental sprinted home and McCabe was swarmed at third base after finishing off a 2-1 win over New Bedford that took three hours to complete.

“I guess the ball listened to me,” McCabe joked. “Each inning we kept saying ‘This is the inning.’ Then the last inning we just didn’t say anything. We all had the mindset we’d win it that inning, and we did.”

A few stats are necessary to describe just how long this game lasted. Four pitchers combined to throw 297 pitches to 95 batters. There were 34 fly outs, 18 strikeouts, 15 hits and five walks. Dartmouth reliever Brett Medeiros, making his first varsity appearance, didn’t appear until extras and still managed to throw 67 pitches across five one-hit innings.

“It’s the longest game I’ve been a part of, even in high school and college,” Dartmouth coach Mike Frates said. “I don’t think I’ve ever played or coached in a game this long. I’m glad it’s over. It’s a great win. This could be a game we look back on as a turning point.”

The pitching from both teams was superb. Senior Justin Baker started for New Bedford and went nine innings without allowing an earned run. He struck out 13, walked just one and threw 115 pitches in his first appearance of the season.

“He could have kept going, but I wanted them to be able to throw again next week,” New Bedford coach John Seed said. “Justin can throw. He’s a tough pitcher. He’s overpowering, but he has a nice curve and he’s developing a change up. He was on today.”

Across the diamond, sophomore Jake Cruz, who was making just his third career start, needed a mere 74 pitches to get through seven innings.

“He would have kept going out there as long as I let him,” Frates said. “He didn’t want to come out, but it’s early in the year and it’s a long season. He went out there and I can’t say enough. He threw strikes.”

Cruz gave up one earned run on five hits and one walk while striking out three using his unorthodox low three-quarters delivery that features a late snap of his wrist. The Whalers hitters never seemed to get the timing down on his delivery.

“Our pitching was great today,” McCabe said. “Jake is going to have an incredible year and Brett looked good in the offseason and did great today. Both of them came up clutch.”

Dartmouth pushed the first run across the board in the bottom of the third when Pimental reached on a one-out error. He stole second and came around on a Brett Abreu single.

The Whalers answered in the top half of the fourth when ebullient third baseman Eric Lebreault doubled — it turned out to be the Whalers’ only extra-base hit of the day — and scored on Manny Cardona’s RBI single two batters later.

That would be all the scoring until the 12th, but both teams threatened in the meantime. New Bedford loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth on an error and two walks, but a fly ball to right canceled the threat. The Whalers had just one hit, a single from Justin Gonzalez with two outs in the 12th, after the sixth inning.

“We didn’t get a lot of good swings,” Seed said. “I thought we would hit these guys a little better. They made the plays, what can you do? They played a good game.”

Baker sat down the final 14 batters he faced before being replaced by Debrosse to start the 10th. That’s when Pimental reached on a dropped third strike with one out, then McCabe reached on an infield single and stole second before Eric Sylvia was intentionally walked to load the bases. But Debrosse hunkered down and induced back-to-back infield pop outs to escape the jam unscathed.

“You battle and you work your butt off and to lose a game like that, I can’t imagine how (New Bedford) feels,” Frates said. “I wouldn’t want to feel that way.”

WHAT IT MEANS: Dartmouth (1-1, 0-1 Old Colony League) picks up its first win of the year after a season-opening loss to Bridgewater-Raynham. New Bedford falls to 0-3.

NEW BEDFORD HITTING: Lebreault finished 2-for-5 with a double, a run and a steal. Justin Gonzalez was 1-for-5 with a walk, Jouseph Pacheco was 1-for-6, Cardona was 1-for-5 with an RBI, Ben Maranhas was 1-for-2 and Torres had a walk and a steal. On the mound, Debrosse went 2 ⅓, giving up three hits and one run with one walk and two strikeouts.

DARTMOUTH HITTING: McCabe finished 4-for-6 with a triple, a steal and an RBI, Pimental was 1-for-6 with a run and a steal, Sylvia went 2-for-3 with two walks, Abreu was 1-for-5 with an RBI and Marquise Adams went 1-for-4 with a walk.

FRATES ON McCABE: “He’s a senior captain. He’s a leader. He’s a three-sport captain. He’s respected because of the way he goes about his business. You can’t ask for a better kid. It was nice having him up in that situation.”

NOTES: The best defensive play of the game came from Gonzalez, who tracked a long fly ball off Abreu’s bat to left field and caught it running toward the fence in the bottom of the eighth. … Abreu made a handful of plays at third base for the Indians. … Two cars were hit by baseball in the first inning, a reminder to all fans to be careful where they park near the Dartmouth field.